


So Who's With Me?

by GallagherHunter



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A lot of people died in the final battle not just Tony, Avengers Endgame fix-it, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It, Gen, Half the avengers are dead, I Didn't Know That Was a Tag, Not Avengers Endgame Time Travel though, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark are Siblings (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker-centric, Sentient Infinity Stones (Marvel), Time Travel, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, actually half of the MCU heroes are dead, but its irondad, did I just become Thanos?, did you expect anything else?, i haven't counted them yet but your fave's probably gone, only Peter & Harley are in the first chapter though, we getting a team, we rewritting the ending b-
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29836407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallagherHunter/pseuds/GallagherHunter
Summary: The Avengers did it, they undid the destruction Thanos caused. But it came at a price. A price that cost more than half the people there that day on the battlefield.Tony snapped Thanos and his army away but giving his life in the process, leaving Peter short another family member once again. But the dreams Peter's been having must mean something, there might just be something to be done.Sometimes the only way forward is back.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	1. When The Sun Disappears and the Knights Have Fallen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd never write a fix-it fic yet here we are.
> 
> You can thank, or curse, the existence of this to a [post](https://blackchessknight.tumblr.com/post/644300561238327296/scene-before-movie-climax) I saw on Tumblr. So yes, we are so getting that scene. How that scene became an Endgame fix-it? You can ask my brain but it hasn't even answered me.
> 
> Regarding You Dreamed of Flying, you guys will have to wait a bit more because that thing grew legs and a head while I wasn't looking and now I have to tame it, but it's coming along. Since we're winging things I figured why not post another WIP.

**2 Hours After the Battle**

Peter walks through the rubble across the field. As far as his eyes can see it's either sky or destruction from his vantage point in the deepest part of the plain. What was once called the Avenger’s Compound. Tony snapped a couple hundred meters to his left.

Rhodey told him to not wander off too far. There’s first responders on the scene. There’s a clean-up crew to help find the bodies of more of the dead. There’s the survivors helping wherever they can. Peter turns around taking in the whole view and his heart twists.

This isn’t the remnants of a battlefield. This is a graveyard.

And he couldn’t stop this. Not in Titan when he’d gotten the gauntlet for a split second. Not when he’d had the gauntlet and tried to get it to the van. Not when he handed it off to Captain Danvers. He can’t ever stop death.

That has always been his curse.

He still feels the silence of hundreds of heartbeats stopping.

* * *

**3 Hours After the Battle**

Happy took Peter to the cabin.

He’d found Peter wandering around what was left of the Compound. Happy took Peter into a hug and neither acknowledged Peter crying on his shoulder.

The silence stretched during the whole ride in the car. Happy only asked once if he was hurt and Peter told him he was fine.

Peter didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care to ask.

Peter entered into the cabin when Happy indicated him to do so.

That’s when he met her.

A little girl with brown hair and eyes that as soon as she spotted him had screamed.

“Petey!” She came running to him. The girl stopped just a step in front of him and smiled brightly before exclaiming. “You’re here. You’re finally back.”

Then she proceeded to hug him tight, though she could only reach his legs. The girl kept talking.

“Daddy said you couldn’t come. That you were away. That a bad man took you and you couldn’t come home.” There’s no tremble in her voice, it wasn’t sad, she was joyous of his presence. She hugs him tighter and, if possible, smiles more. “But now you’re here.”

Peter’s too shocked to respond. There was death clinging to him. The Iron Spider suit had retracted to his back when he entered the car and all he had on him right now was his normal Spider-Man suit. He’d been in two battles that felt like one and lost. Their victory was lacking. Peter was exhausted and his mind too jumbled to comprehend what was happening. Too numb to react.

Happy had brought him to a cabin in the middle of the woods by a lake. There was a little girl who hugged Peter tight and talked about him being missing.

It was like Doctor Strange had said, _“it’s been five years, they need us.”_

That should explain a little girl who said she’d been waiting for him to come home that Peter had never met in his life.

Why was Peter here? Where had Happy brought him to?

There’s the sound of a door closing and then Happy’s voice.

“Morgan, Peter needs some rest and a shower.”

He isn’t chastising, but it’s not an off-hand comment either.

Peter should ask. He really should. But he is far too exhausted to.

Morgan decides for him as she lets him go and takes his hand instead.

“I’ll show you to your room. It's across mine. Come on.”

Morgan tugs on his hand. It's nothing Peter couldn’t stop even without superstrength, she is just a little girl, but Peter lets her guide him. He recognizes those brown eyes, even if he doesn’t realize it he knows who that is. He knows he can trust her as much as she trusts him.

* * *

**5 Hours After the Battle**

Peter’s met Harley in person a handful of times-he can count them on his fingers-but he’s a friend. A friend that once shared a state-of-the-art lab with him for four weeks. A friend he only made because of Tony. A common thread they know they no longer have when they look into each other's eyes. Peter doesn’t have to say because Harley already knows, and Harley doesn’t either because he can see it in Peter.

Peter, having showered and in pajamas, is spread on the couch in the living room, Morgan is asleep cuddled next to him covered with a blanket. Peter is exhausted but he can’t sleep. Harley sits on the little space left on the couch silently.

In any other situation he would smirk and say _“You look like shit Parker.”_

But no words come out.

There isn’t silence in the house though. There’s movement in the kitchen and in the office, the halls have people walking, calling, planning. May, Happy, and Rhodey are busy coordinating things, mainly being a support for Pepper. There’s a lot of adult stuff to do, a lot of Avenger stuff to deal with, the return of half the universe. Stuff that for once, Peter is grateful he is too young to have to participate in.

That’s what Peter drifts off to in the end, the buzz of people scrambling to fix the broken remains of the world.

* * *

_Peter stands on water, or at least it looks like it, but when he reaches down it does not feel wet even if he sees a ripple on the surface. There is nothing but an orange span and that crystalline floor as far as the eye can see._

_Peter doesn’t remember where he is, but he knows he’s been here before._

_He’s been here for a long time._

_“Peter.”_

_It’s not a voice. It makes no sound. Yet Peter can hear it. He can feel it. It's in his head. It’s in his bones. It’s in his very soul._

_“You know what to do Peter.”_

_Peter has been standing there for hours. He’s been learning about the rules of that place for months. He’s been there for years._

_“Go back. You know when.”_

_Peter knows his time is up, he knows he won’t return to this place. Not ever again. Well, at least not in a really long time._

_There’s a blinding light that consumes everything._

_“It’s in your hands now.”_

Peter wakes up to Morgan an inch from his face smiling enthusiastically at him. The spark in her eyes shines less bright than yesterday. Morgan understands something is wrong, but it seems the joy of having Peter here is enough to keep the worry at bay.

“We made pancakes, you’re gonna love them.” Morgan exclaims before grabbing Peter’s wrist and pulling. Peter is still groggy from waking up, but even besides that, it feels like there’s remnants of the dream still leaving him uncoordinated. Morgan this time doesn’t get him to move, she pulls three times before Peter can get up.

The smell of pancakes moves his body forward as Morgan guides. She chirps elated about chocolate chips and whipped cream. May’s light chuckle combines with the warmth left in his body from the dream.

* * *

**22 Hours After the Battle**

Peter learns the stones are locked away in Tony’s lab in the garage. Morgan is taking a shower and Harley is off making a call or something. He’s alone now, no one to distract him from his thoughts or that nagging feeling since he woke up this morning. Not until he begins his way outside.

No one has actually told Peter not to go to the garage or to leave the stones alone. Something moves him there. He stands in front of it and notices the keypad on the door. Back at the Compound Peter had never really needed a code to enter the lab even if he did have one, FRIDAY let him in. He stares at the keypad, there’s a scanner on it, a hand scanner. Peter takes a breath and presses his palm to it. Nothing happens indicating it scanned but the door unlocks and Peter steps through.

“Hello, Peter. It’s good to see you again.” FRIDAY sounds across the room. He notices she’s not using her normal tone, it's his subdued parameter.

“Hey, FRIDAY.” Peter greets back in a rough whisper.

The lab is special. It's probably the place where Tony and him spent the most time together. The lights turn on in a soft glow, revealing the bots in their charging stations. The moment they recognized him entering the lab they charged at him beeping along the way. For Peter, it hasn’t been long since he last saw them, maybe two weeks at most. For them, however, it's been five years. Peter pets the bots like he’s back at the lab to work on something, like it’s just a simple weekend at the Compound. The bots surround him and he knows they’re asking in their own way where he’s been, why did he go, if he wants to set something on fire again. Tears come to Peter’s eyes and he realizes no one’s told them what happened. No one probably will, that falls on him. Peter wants to hug them, doesn’t want to tell them he isn’t gonna come back.

Peter places his hand on top of Dum-E’s arm close to his claw and slowly slides it back. He inhales shakily and shuts his eyes. Peter isn’t ready to tell them. He doesn’t want it to be true. This can’t be happening to him again.

Peter feels the pull.

He opens his eyes abruptly and shoots his head towards a locked cabinet. It’s not made of glass so you can’t see through it. Peter carefully walks around the bots and to the cabinet. He can feel his heartbeat rise with each step he takes. He feels it drum on his ears and muffling his surroundings.

Standing in front of the cabinet Peter sees another keypad with a finger scanner. Logically, it would make sense that he wouldn’t have access, looking around it's one of the few he can see that requires a password to open. He lifts his trembling hand anyways and places a thumb on it. The moment it reads it the numbers light up in expectation. Peter only has one code and it was for accessing a lab, which he already entered one. Something pushes him forward and he inputs his code anyways, his five-year-old code. For a split second nothing happens and Peter knows FRIDAY will tell him he does not have access. But then on the screen appears a small photo of him and the words unlocked flash up.

Peter’s tears finally fall free across his face and a sob escapes his mouth. He tries to muffle it with his hand and only half accomplishes it.

He feels Dum-E behind him trying to comfort him. Just like he did whenever something exploded or he hurt himself in the lab. The tears just come faster and a cry shakes his whole body.

“Peter, is there any way I can be of assistance?” FRIDAY cuts through the noise of the bots and Peter’s sobs, her voice gentle and soft.

Peter shakes his head, closing his eyes and pressing his lips together. He tries to clear his throat that feels closed. He knows that wasn’t the only thing she used to ask, but there’s no one to contact if he answers yes to the second part.

It’s that misery that makes Peter shove the cabinet door open. Inside there is only a small gray briefcase. Nothing unusual for a case inside Tony’s lab but the case is anything but ordinary. Peter knows what’s in there. He can feel it. No one has to tell him.

Peter takes out the briefcase and turns around. He sets the case on the table in front of him. No lock. Unclasping the snaps and lifting the lid reveals a soft glow of colors.

There’s that pull again, the same feeling since the morning. Peter extends his hand to grab a stone but stops when he hears it. Morgan is calling out to him from inside the house.

_“Petey! I’m done with my bath. We can play now.”_

He has to return to the house.

“FRIDAY?” Peter calls out without looking away from the stones.

“Yes, Peter?” FRIDAY responds.

“I was never here.”

Without missing a single beat FRIDAY answers.

“Of course.”

Peter shuts the case, secures the snaps, and puts it back in the cabinet. Pushing the cabinet door shut with his hand Peter turns to the exit. Before he leaves through the door Peter gives out one more order.

“Lock the lab.”

Peter knows the lights went off and everything that could was put back into place. He knows the moment he closes the door it will be like he was never there.

* * *

_Peter is alone, but he isn’t alone. The others are there. Billions upon billions of souls making up the orange sky and the crystal floor. He can feel them, but he cannot see them. He only knows that they are there; not able to touch, or listen, not exactly asleep but not quite awake. They are suspended there waiting. Peter doesn’t know what they’re waiting for. What this place is waiting for._

_He doesn’t sleep, it never quite feels like resting, he just loses consciousness for a while before everything comes back to him again._

_Sometimes the souls speak, they scream without voice, they cry out without sound. Peter can feel it, when the souls try to communicate. They are scared, they are sad, they are confused. They think Peter has the answers._

_“Maybe they’re not wrong.”_

_That again. Peter isn’t sure what that is, only that he can understand it. In this endless void that he walks and walks and keeps on walking. It makes no sound, it has no origin. And still, Peter feels it and knows what it's telling him._

_They aren’t one-sided conversations. If Peter asks they will answer. Maybe in riddles, maybe in clear answers. It's part of the rules he is still learning._

_He is there for a reason. He still isn't sure what that is. He doesn’t know if he had a say in the matter or someone decided for him._

_When he'd asked it cryptically had answered, “both.”_

_It expects great things from him. Things he can’t do anything about. Not as he is stuck in this place without end._

Peter is startled awake to the sound of Morgan singing to the top of her lungs _Let It Go_ from Frozen. They’d started the movie and Peter hadn’t meant to fall asleep.

Peter can feel Harley staring at him from his place in the kitchen. By the sound of the microwave he’s making more popcorn. It itches Peter in the back of his head, not from danger, just from Harley staring so intently.

Harley comes back with popcorn and settles on the other side of the couch. Peter feels his side glances the rest of the film.

When the film ends Peter lifts up the dirty dishes to leave them in the kitchen sink then heads upstairs to take a shower. He says as much and gets a noise of acknowledgment from Harley.

* * *

_Peter is sitting; legs crossed, arms resting on his legs, hands grabbing his shoes._

_“There is always a price to pay Peter. You know this.”_

_They’re giving him lessons again. They’re explaining more rules._

_They never tell him where he is though._

_What this place is. Why the sky is orange. Where the light comes from. Why he is all alone._

_They never explain why they’re doing this._

_Why him._

_“You get a second chance.”_

_Peter doesn’t ask a second chance to what._

_“Let’s try this again.”_

_A different stone appears in front of him. It is green. He has seen it before._

_It is called the Time Stone. They also told him it is an Infinity Stone. He suspects whatever talks to him is one too._

_He doesn’t ask though._

_“Grab the stone.”_

_Peter hesitates to do so. Fear is what stops his hand, though he has no idea what he fears._

_“They will not harm you.” It’s trying to appease him again. “They cannot.”_

_Peter takes a breath he knows he does not need and grabs the stone._

_“Now ask it to turn back time. Tell it when you want to go. Tell it when it will send you.”_

_This time the stone glows brighter and mandalas that resemble clocks appear around the hand that holds the stone._

_They don’t work in here. Whatever they are training him for, he can’t do it in here. He knows that. They do too._

Peter wakes up in the shower, water dripping down his face. The remnants of orange cloud his vision before it disperses revealing a shower.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He’s never fallen asleep in the shower before, but he has been exhausted. It was a very long day the previous day, without counting the battle itself. He’d woken up to go to the Moma and now here he was in a cabin with a little sister named Morgan and sharing living space with Harley again. Had he really just been going to a museum yesterday? It feels a lot longer than that.

Peter steps out of the shower and dries himself. There’s fog on the mirror and Peter wipes one hand across it to reveal the reflection below. It’s tinted orange. Peter blinks and the orange is gone. He turns around looking at the bathroom but everything is as it should.

_Gosh, I must really be exhausted._

Peter goes to his room and changes into pajamas. It’s not late, but Peter feels exhaustion in his very being. He doesn’t think he has actually rested a single moment since four days ago. Talking to Morgan is a balm in his soul, she is an amazing kid, but it's only a distraction. For the both of them. Harley knows that too. Peter knows he plays along though.

Two years ago-well seven in reality, but he’s only lived two-he lost Ben, and now he lost Tony. The universe loves to take family from him. Peter doesn’t know if it's to teach him a lesson, if it's to help him, or just screw with him. To see how many times they can bring him down before he can no longer get back up.

The tears come again and Peter muffles his cries with a pillow. He wishes there was something he could have done, that he could have stopped it. He feels helpless. He couldn’t save Ben, he had no say in his parents’ accident, he couldn’t stop Thanos and save Tony. Just once Peter wished he was enough, that he could do something. Do something in his life where it counts.

* * *

_The orange is different. Peter blinked and it was darker. The light was dim._

_"Go back.”_

_There is no lesson this time. Only instructions._

_“You will go back to fix it.”_

_There’s green flowing in front of him. Around him yellow, red, blue, and purple cascade._

_Peter opens his mouth to ask, he has to._

_“Why me?”_

_It comes out shaky, a whisper no one would have heard anywhere else._

_“You know the answer to that Peter.”_

_He swallows._

_“Do I have a choice?”_

_The cascade of colours flows around him as if to compliment the answer._

_“You have always had a choice, Peter. We can’t make you do anything.”_

_Peter sees the colours turn solid in front of him._

_“Doing this has always been your choice.”_

Peter wakes up in cold sweat. He is breathing rapidly and his bones are freezing, legs twisted in his comforter.

They’re not dreams.

He thought they were weird dreams from all the messed-up things that had happened. But they’re not dreams.

They’re memories.

No one remembers anything from being dusted. He’d asked May. He’d asked Harley. No one remembered. Peter himself woke up on Titan as if he’d just fallen asleep. He didn’t feel a single second pass.

But it's real. His time there was real. And he finally has an answer to where he was.

He was in the Soul World.

He has a choice. He can do something. He knows what to do. He is enough.

He _remembers._

Peter is not losing anyone, not when he has the power to reverse it. Because after all, if he can do it, then it's his responsibility to do so.

Peter springs out of bed and rushes down the stairs. His eyes are wild and his hair a mess, but there is no time to wait, the longer he waits the riskier it becomes. He doesn’t have shoes on, he is only in his pajama pants and shirt. Probably not the best outfit to go out in the cold air of autumn in upstate New York close to a lake in the middle of the night, especially considering his problem with thermoregulating. Well, self-preservation be damn, there’s no time.

Peter is walking to the kitchen door when the voice stops him. It nearly jumps him out of his skin.

“Isn’t it late for a walk?”

Harley is standing in the middle of the kitchen. Peter hadn’t even questioned the light on, he’d been too focused on his mission.

Peter stares at Harley without saying anything, he looks like a deer caught by the headlights. Harley inspects Peter, tousled head, twisted shirt, pale looking-even paler than he’s seen him these last few hours. There’s a glint in Peter’s eyes though, there’s the spark Harley had been waiting to see.

“You look like a guy on a mission.” Harley crosses his arms in front of his chest. He turns to the outside world where Peter had seemed so desperate to reach. Then he turns back to Peter with a small grin. “I was wondering when you would tell me the plan.”

Peter just keeps standing there, his mouth opening a little to stare at Harley in surprise. Peter doesn’t even make a sound so Harley continues.

“I knew you wouldn't give up. I knew you were going to do something. I knew the moment I saw you on that couch with Morgan that you wouldn’t just stand and do nothing.” Harley takes three steps, his hands inside his pockets. “So what’s the plan?

Peter shuts his mouth close and turns to the kitchen door that leads outside. In the darkness, he can see where the entrance to the lab is. Peter already knows this is dangerous, it's risky, it's an Avenger level deal. Peter turns to Harley, he never thought this would come out of his mouth.

“A lot can go wrong, Harley. This isn’t setting off an explosion and catching the lab on fire by extent. This is dangerous, there won’t be any safety measures in place.”

Harley’s eyes twinkle at that.

“I was counting on it.” Harley smirks, and as fast as that came his face turns serious, his posture straightens. “You can’t do this alone, Peter. Whatever it is you’re planning-”

“I think I can handle myself-”

“You don’t have to.” Harley cuts him. “I know very well what you are capable of doing, but this is much bigger than that. And you also don’t have to do it alone.”

Peter purses his lips and his thoughts run wild. He thinks of different outcomes, simulates different decisions. Peter ends up looking up at Harley and sees the need to do something in his eyes. Peter realizes that he doesn’t have to do this alone. Peter can have someone on his side, just like when they teamed up against Tony. So Peter smiles at Harley.

Harley smiles back and asks.

“So what’s the plan?”


	2. They Left Us Alone, Just Kids In The Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We getting The Scene in this chapter. Which got so long I had to cut it in half, which is also why the chapter count went up.
> 
> I ask just one thing, and that’s to suspend your disbelief on how some characters got to where they are at. I can come up with plausible reasons but there’s no need for much backstory. There’s enough story as it is.
> 
> Also, I hope everyone turned out okay, I've never played with some of these characters before. I'll revise this chapter tomorrow to fix any mistakes.
> 
> Enjoy :)

Peter and Harley are in the lab in the garage, both sitting on stools in front of the main table in the middle of the room. Even if the lab had regulated temperature Peter feels shivers on his arms, he really should have grabbed at least a sweater before he told Harley to follow him out. Peter exhales before talking.

“I’m using the stones. I plan on going back in time and changing the battle.”

Peter hadn’t thought farther ahead than that. Not yet anyways. He figured he had a little bit of time to plan something to save as many people as he could, he’d been there, all he had to do was keep people from dying, find someone to snap before Tony gets a chance. Peter did hold the gauntlet for at least ten minutes.

"That's not how it works, you know that's not how time travel works. I distinctly remember the Colonel say you can't change your past." Harley objects, he obviously wants a solution but they need an  _ actual  _ solution.

"Yeah, Tony's Time-Space GPS can't change the past." Peter lifts his hand and the specs for the time travel device come up. It’s saddening that they can’t rejoice and animatedly talk about the fact  _ time travel exists _ . Time travel is useless to them. So Peter continues as if they were talking about tenth grade physics. "It uses coordinates to accurately navigate through time and space using the Quantum Realm. You enter through one point in time and space and return that same one without changing any events in your history. But the Time Stone doesn't work like that. The stones don't obey our laws of physics."

"You seem awfully confident about that." Harley side eyes Peter from his seat before turning back to the specs in front of him. It's just odd.

"You're gonna think I'm crazy." Peter replies, he half mumbles it as he looks down at his hands. The time in the Soul World is confusing and hard to explain.

"I already think that." Harley shrugs his shoulders before the edge of his lip lifts in smirk. "But it's a genius crazy."

There’s a moment of silence where Peter glances up at Harley and warmth seeps into his cold body. Bit by bit it's starting to feel like the past two days haven’t happened at all, their five year old two days.

"I know how the stones work." Peter takes a breath and lifts his head. "When we were dusted… I-I was aware. While everyone else was in a weird state of conscious and unconsciousness I was aware of everything. I learned about the stones… and how to use them."

Peter gulps and nervously grabs his hands with each other. Saying it out loud makes it so much more real. He was alone for a  _ really _ long time.

"You were aware." Harley says slowly, he doesn't ask but he isn't saying it as a certain statement either.

Harley isn't sure what to make of that, Peter makes it sound so lonely. And perhaps that's the truth, maybe Peter was there alone for five years learning about things that can destroy life as they know it with the snap of the fingers. Harley doesn't know if he himself could handle it, Peter seems far too put together for that. Instead of relaying any of that, Harley jokes, as one does.

"So you went to Stone school for five years? Did you at least pass?" Harley snorts, and with that the small tension that was building around them pops.

Peter gives Harley a glare that has nothing behind it, maybe a bit of exhaustion at most.

"It wasn't school. There wasn't much to do there anyway so it was something to pass the time." Peter shrugs, making it seem like being told the secrets of the universe could be compared to those crappy YouTube videos you click on because you have nothing better to do; but that knowledge cost Peter five years. Talking about his time that place is as hard as he thought it would be, the sooner they move on the better.

"Alright, so you know how to use those suckers and that we can use them to go back in time and change things, do we just go back and warn everyone then return here?" Harley asks, gesturing with his hands and opening his arms in a way that almost seems like Tony.

Peter shakes his head as he answers.

"There's no coming back Harley. I use the Time Stone I have stay when I returned to. It's bad enough that I'm using it to go back without a time loop.” Peter moves his hand forward to pronounce his words. “And I also need to hurry, it only becomes riskier the more time passes."

"Wait, no huh, I'm coming along." Harley states, his leans forward and stares hard at Peter’s eyes. "You aren't going back alone, someone has to watch your ass."

Peter opens his mouth to reply but Harley beats him to it.

"I said you weren’t doing this alone and you won’t. How many people can the Time Stone return?"

Peter blinks twice before looking to his right. His forehead creases for two seconds before he turns back to Harley. "I don't know, I never asked. I suppose a small group, maybe 4 or 5 people, not ideal but probably doable."

Before Peter can even ask why they would need to know that Harley claps his hands together and speaks again.

"Alright we need a team."

Peter stands up abruptly. "What? What do you mean a team? I'm still deciding if  _ you _ might go back with me."

Harley starts walking to a wall in the lab and bows to open a cabinet door and gets out a backpack. He turns around again and slings the backpack on his back.

"It doesn't matter how many people go back, you want to change a battle that had hundreds of losses with only the power of  _ hindsight _ . If you go back you need to be prepared, and we can't do that fast enough the two of us. We need a team." Harley states matter-of-factly.

Peter does glare with emotion at Harley this time, it’s not that he doesn’t see the logic, it's that they don’t really have the  _ time. _ And isn’t that ironic.

Harley sees Peter’s hesitation and shoves his hand forward lifting two fingers. It’s meant to both calm down Peter before he makes a split second decision and illustrate his argument. Harley speaks fast. "Give me two hours, I'll get a team and some stuff. Come on, what were you planning on doing, coming here to steal the stones and go back to fight Thanos on your own in your pajamas?" 

Peter looks down to see his get up and definitely regrets not taking at least a sweater. His cheeks burn and finally drops his shoulders. He supposes Harley does have a point.

"Alright, two hours. I need to gather some things anyway."

Harley nods, then just as fast points a finger accusingly at Peter.

"Promise me you'll wait the two hours before even trying to go back in time."

Peter chews on his bottom lip, slides the balls of his feet on the floor. For a single moment it feels like their back at the lab in the Compound.  _ You aren't alone Peter, so you don't have to be by choice. _

"I promise. I suppose I do need to get things together, we do need to plan a lot before we can turn back time." Peter smiles at Harley feeling the determined genius spark Tony claims he has.

Harley sees more than that spark though. Harley looks at Peter and for the first time sees a resemblance with Tony he wishes he didn't, like their carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. He knows Peter believes that if he has to do this on his own he will, and that's just something Harley can't let him do.

* * *

Peter is setting the table in the middle of the room when Harley walks in.

“When I received your message to meet here I thought you'd lost your mind. First, that we're not at the cabin and second, did it really have to be here?” Harley questions with a grimace at the less than ideal accommodations.

“FRIDAY found it wasn’t completely destroyed.” Is all Peter says. He didn’t know who Harley was gonna bring but he didn’t like the idea of a stranger being in Tony’s lab, it just didn’t sit well with him. Plus the fact that if they were here there was no need to use the Space Stone to get to the Compound for the battle if they were already there, at least at what was left standing.

To Peter’s surprise though, Harley came in with a lot more people than he was expecting. Honestly he wasn't even sure Harley could conjure up more than two at this hour, he was one hundred percent sure Harley would find someone, even if he brought them out from under the rocks. Peter had been optimistic that Harley would get two people, maybe with that many they could try the wildest idea he'd come up with since Harley mentioned going back with him, but with seven people total there was more than enough, if they were crazy enough to try this of course. He was feeling the plan grounding, actual  _ hope _ at making a difference. Still, Peter remained a little guarded, he didn't even know what Harley had told them to get them to come at ungodly hours, especially some of the faces he saw..

“How did you contact them so fast?.” Peter asks with furrowed brows and looking from one person to the other. He recognizes Princess Shuri, Groot, and Nebula from the battle but there’s two girls next to them that although they seem around his age he can’t say he’s seen them before.

“Well, while you were still deciding when to act and conjuring up our plan, I was looking for allies.” Harley says as he strides towards Peter. He points at the girl who looks most uncomfortable there. “This is Cassie Lang.”

“I’m Ant-Man’s daughter.” Cassie says in a hurry, sounding like she’s justifying her spot on this clandestine meeting.

The other girl who Peter doesn’t recognize speaks up next.

“I’m Lila Barton. Hawkeye's daughter.”

Peter nods. So, they’re like him. Everyone in this room lost someone to that battle, some even more.

Peter turns to Harley. “Are you sure about this?”

“We've been over this, you are planning on using the stones and using  _ hindsight _ . There isn't enough time. Plus, more heads means more ideas. So go ahead, relay the plan." Harley shoots back.

“Fair enough.” Peter shrugs. He turns to see the people gathered around him. The ones dusted, the ones always left behind while the heroes do the work, and he sees that same eagerness he always had of doing something, to not just stand and wait. Peter knows what it's like to be able to do something now, and if they join him, so will they. He takes a deep breath before speaking without wavering. “I’m going to change the battle against Thanos. I’m using the stones to return to the battle and save them.”

“Time travel? Like the Avengers did?” Shuri asks.

Peter doesn’t get a word in before Nebula cuts in.

“That’s not how time travel works.”

“It won’t be time travel. Not the way Tony designed it.” Peter can feel the nervousness around the room, they came here grasping at straws and Peter has to convince them to help. “The way time travel works is any change to the timeline won’t affect your past, but we’re not using his Space-Time GPS or the Quantum Realm. We’re using the Infinity Stones.”

Peter notices the shift in Harley, the way their eyes connect at Peter's words. Harley heard the difference in his wording.

“How do you know it’s different?” Nebula asks.

“They told me. The stones told me, in the soul realm.” Peter looks to his hands that can touch and feel everything. That feel cold and hot. That can stick to anything. That are physical. It's easier to talk about it the second time around, not easy though. “Or at least, someone did.”

“You remember your time dusted? You were in the stone? But that’s impossible, no one remembers.” Lila exclaims. It is bewildering to her. It’s nauseating and confusing. The ground has shaken underneath her. Something can be done. There is hope.

“I don’t remember all of it, but I feel it. I know it in myself that it will work. I feel it in my gut.” Peter says to the room.

“You want us to go off of your instinct that we can fix this?” It’s Shuri who questions him. Shuri believes in science and advancements, she’s inspected the Mind Stone and knows that it's beyond their science. The stones are too advanced for their comprehension if they can even be explained.

Everyone in that room wants to believe him, they all want this to be true and to work. They are desperate for even a shroud of hope. But still, they aren’t sure. They shift in their spot, nervously move their hands, look at each other searching for answers.

Peter looks at every person gathered around the table. From Shuri to Harley. From Cassie to Lila. From Groot to Nebula. Peter knows he needs them to pull this off. Harley was right, he can’t do this on his own. But if he can’t convince them, then he will have to make do. The Menace Duo at it again.

Peter’s stance changes. His arms go straight at his side and he squares his shoulders, opening his legs to balance his weight and not bounce from toe to toe, head held high as he faces them, not a trace of doubt in Peter’s irises. When he speaks his voice isn’t low or unsure, it is strong and clear.

“Yes. I need you to trust me on this. I am absolutely certain the stones will work. They are crystals of immense power created from the Big Bang that control existence itself, there is no object more powerful than the Infinity Stones. With the Stones we can return and save countless lives on that battlefield.“ Peter stops to take a breath. He has to warn them, their chances may be better with more but they deserve the same warning. “This is a dangerous mission, maybe just like the one the Avengers just faced in retrieving them. The stones are dangerous if you don’t respect their power and they are far too much for one single person to handle. Not to mention the risks of outside going back, we are returning to a battlefield. Survival is not guaranteed.”

He wishes it were better, Peter truly wishes things could be easier, but they’re not. They were dealt a shity hand and now they had to play it. So there it is, the risk and the payoff. It is up to them to decide. Peter turns to stare into each of their pairs of eyes fiercely. First at Harley then at Shuri, instilling his confidence into them. Looking at Groot then at Nebula, telling them that he will do this alone if he has to with his eyes. Brown eyes looking back at brown as Cassie stares back and then Lila.

“So, who’s with me?”

Harley steps forward and Peter’s head turns to him.

Harley was always on board. He knew since before Peter mentioned this crazy idea that if Peter led, he would follow. Eyes hardened and voice unwavering he stands straight with head held high like Peter as he says.

“I’m in.”

Shuri steps after him, the regal composure of the princess she is without need for a crown.

“I’m in.”

Cassie steps forward next. Her eyes are scared, she isn’t sure this will work, but she’s spent her life on the sidelines of superheroes, it’s time she get to take control of what happens to her. Her voice shakes but she won’t stand down as she takes her position as strong as she can make it.

“I’m in.”

Lila’s steps are assertive, there’s tears on her cheeks but fire in her eyes. The superhero life has taken enough from her, it’s time she takes back.

“I’m in.”

“I am groot.”

Although they don’t understand the words they know the meaning behind it as Groot steps forward and stands straight like everyone else. Their head held high, shoulders back, and feet apart.

They all look to each other. Maybe it's that Spider-Man will lead, maybe it's the certainty that the outcome can be different, maybe it's just the foolish wish of a child asked far too early to grow up, but they had all lived with the consequences of the superhero life, they had already been asked to grow up fast anyways. So they stood in front of each other, sure of what they are doing, sure of what they will do, and willing to gamble with the cosmic entities that are the stones to reverse this. This time the choice is finally theirs.

From the corner they hear the sound of metal moving. As one they turn to look at Nebula, whose eyes are narrowed slits.

“You all know this is not gonna end well. We’re probably all gonna die.” Nebula smirks as she says it. “Guess it won’t be so bad.”

With those final words Nebula takes two steps forward and nods her head in Peter’s direction. The atmosphere in the room has shifted, the people who entered are not the ones who will come out of it, they are ready to risk their lives for this.

As they all turn back to Peter, he in turn takes a deep breath. It’s done. He has a team. Now they plan, and then, they set this into motion.

“Alright team, the Avengers are gone, so it is up to us to fix this.” Peter says.

“So we’re the New Avengers?” Shuri chuckles from her spot, motioning to everyone with her whole arm.

“No.” Lila’s voice is clear, and though it doesn’t quite sound cheerful it is far from a distressed tone. “We are the Young Avengers.”

The moment lasts for a few seconds, and it gives them more solid ground to stand on.

When the moment passes Peter turns to one of the duffle bags behind him to take out four square devices. He turns around and places them equally distant apart on the center of the table. When he pulls his hand upwards four screens appear on each side and the table itself turns a distinctive light shade of blue to Harley. Without thinking Harley blurs out in shock.

“Is that FRIDAY? Are those remote holoscreens?”

Peter turns to Harley with a depressive smirk. “I have access to FRIDAY and there’s no one to stop me from taking things without permission.”

Harley and Peter don’t say it but they both think it, Tony would have had to give permission. Add the chaos from the situation and even if Peter had taken them during the day no one would even think to ask what Peter will do with them.

“Hey, FRIDAY.” Peter calls out.

“Hello, Peter.” FRIDAY responds with a relatively neutral voice.

“Won’t she snitch on us?” Lila questions as she warily looks to the screen and then to Peter.

Peter shakes his head. Then he turns to the screens again.

“You won’t tell what we’re doing right, FRIDAY?” Peter asks.

“Of course not, there is no protocol to activate.” Her voice sounds subdued, maybe even a tinch melancholic.

Peter tries to inhale as his chest constricts at that. He grits his teeth and carries on, there’s a reason why they’re doing this. If this goes right, FRIDAY can snitch all day long about Peter taking the remote holoscreens.

“Right. Ok then.” Peter clears his throat before once more speaking. “FRIDAY, bring up Operation Almanac.”

“How much have you been working on this?” Shuri asks as she the screens come to life with information.

The others near the screens and take in the information they display, catching up to everything that Peter already knows.

“Not much.” Peter says without taking his eyes from the screen. “I asked FRIDAY to catalogue the events of the day of the Battle by importance. Asked what information we have on the stones. I looked into the nanoparticle gauntlet specs and compared notes for my Iron Spider suit. Mainly I’m just trying to set a timeline and a way to use the stones without dying.”

Shuri side eyes Peter before taking a breath. “Well, I’m sure we can come up with something.”

Peter finally turns to Shuri with a smile, a spark blossoming behind his eyes.

“I already have.”

Peter moves his hand horizontally and all four screens display the Infinity Stones. Name, known powers, time and place they were retrieved from. Peter moves his fingers in swift motion and the stones move. A gauntlet that resembles a thin glove better appears next to each stone, the distinctive red is contrasted on the light blue almost white background. 

Peter’s voice carries through the room as they look entranced at the projection.

“There are six stones and seven of us. The power of the stones combined is too much for a single person, at least us humans, even an enhanced like me.” Silhouettes of people appear next and each glove reforms on the hand of a person followed by an Infinity Stone finishing on top of the back of the hand. “But on their own they are controllable without taking a toll of the wielder, especially if you have something to wield them with.”

Harley turns to Peter as Shuri opens a new document and begins calculations on the gloves by adding the data from the gauntlet that managed to survive the six stones, if only as a charred remain; it got dusted with Thanos not destroyed. Harley moves his hands in opposing directions of each other before using his index finger to point at Peter with one hand.

"You want to give each of us a stone. You plan on dividing the power to so when we go back in time we do the snap ourselves. Is that even possible?" Harley questions the room in general. Three of their members have reliable knowledge on the stones after all.

"Actually no, I plan on using the stones separately and get someone else to snap Thanos' army away for us." Peter answers.

“Wait." Lila tears her eyes from the screens and turns to the others. Her voice is questioning but determined with a new idea forming in her head. "Why don’t we go further back then that? Why don't we just go back five years? We can stop Thanos from snapping the first time."

The tension in the room grows as half of them flourish with that thought and the other grows apprehensive of it. Cassie and Groot agree with the idea as they nod and reply with hope, even Shuri contemplates the possibilities with critical thought. Nebula, Peter, and Harley stiffen with the buzz of small excitement running through the others. The three of them look to each other in understanding and solace. A silent conversation passes through Peter, Harley, and Nebula. Shuri catches on quickly to the silent conversation and rigid postures, she realizes they're against the idea.

They know they can't go back. They know they can't undo the past five years. What Thanos has done should be reversed, but they know they can't, not that far back. Not just because that’s probably a more suicide mission than this one. Peter and Harley hold gazes and know they’re both thinking the same.  _ Morgan.  _ Morgan is just one story of many.

In the silent conversation that Shuri has now joined, they are saying the same thing. It falls to Peter to tell the rest. Peter doesn't want to be the bearer of bad news, he's never liked receiving them so he knows the heartache that awaits. But it is his job as much as he hates it.

With a nod of his head Peter turns to the enthusiastic part of the team. The joy of all this being a bad dream has planted roots and Peter knows it'll be harder when he tells them. It's Lila who meets Peter's eyes. She is smiling widely, probably for the first time since coming here, and freezes when she registers Peter's gaze. Peter sees in real time as Lila's hope turns to confusion and her smile slowly starts to fall. Cassie and Groot notice then. Peter doesn't hold Lila's gaze as it loses all hope, he looks to the table. No one moves for a while, the room stilling even with seven people present. Peter takes the initiative, he is the leader after all.

Peter lifts his head and stares head on at Lila. Like ripping off a bandaid, he tells himself.

"We can't go back to the first snap. It has to be the battle at the Compound." Though it hurts Peter to say it, there is no doubt in the statement. There is no wavering will. They will not go back more than two days.

“Why?” Lila acusses, hands gesturing towards the other side of the table. “Because you’ll lose people, we all lost! Not everyone was lost at that battle! We can turn back time and undo everything.”

If they go back five years, what’s to stop them from going further?

“We can’t. Besides, the stone said not to.” It breaks him, it really does, but he knows they can’t change that. “Don’t you think I want to go back and change things? With the Time Stone I could go back and save my uncle, with it I could go back so far that I could save my parents! But we can’t.”

Peter turns to Groot briefly before looking at Cassie, who he knows will understand why they can't go back as much as they want to. "We can't undo the last five years."

And with that the spark of joy gets extinguished. There is a cold draft running through the room that chills to the bone. They can't undo the whole nightmare, only part of it. And that's the spark they'll have to focus on.

Cassie hugs herself and Groot looks down at his feet. Lila too looks to someplace else. Shuri turns to Peter, eyes expectant.

"Well then Peter. Where do we start?" She questions.

And like that, the bubble of tension gets popped. It's alright, that was never the original plan anyways. Peter always said he planned on going back to the battle to change the outcome, it was never about stopping Thanos.

Peter looks to Shuri, looks at each member of their team carefully, then turns to the screens and finally back to Shuri with a grin.

"We begin with suits. If we're gonna be the Young Avengers then we need the gear to compliment."

Shuri smiles back.

"I think that can be arranged."

Shuri turns to a monitor and begins working again, the glove specs are to the side as the suits and gadgets take center stage. Harley joins her a moment later.

Peter turns to Cassie, Groot, and Lila. It’s Cassie who opens her mouth to speak, her voice is strained as she tries to use a joking tone.

“This is gonna end bad isn’t it? We’re gonna destroy everything?”

Shuri snorts from her side of the table, looking up at Cassie with a mischievous smile. Shuri hasn’t smiled since the battle, yet there’s light laughter in her tone.

“We are a bunch of geniuses and superhero kids, this was gonna be chaos regardless of the mission.”

Peter chuckles at that. It would have been a good chaos had they become a team under different circumstances. Peter turns to Cassie again, and softly smiles before speaking.

"We need to piece together what happened on that battlefield and find our opportunity. We can't let anyone die but we also don't want to go in blindsided. There's a lot of data to go through, the moment a casualty happens it's already too late."

The three of them nod and turn to two screens as they begin to piece together how it all went to hell.

Finally Peter turns to Nebula who's been quietly watching everything unfold. Peter isn't sure how to approach her. The others have accepted Peter as the leader, and although she also agreed to it by not disagreeing, she was here for those five years, she lived through it and fought alongside him against Thanos. Part of Peter feels inadequate, like Nebula should be the one leading charge.

"You seem to know what you're doing." Nebula says before Peter can finish his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah."

Where did all the confidence from before go? He slides his foot forward a few centimetres and then back. His fingers move with nervous energy out of his control.

Nebula just stares at him. When neither of them has said anything after enough time for it to be awkward Nebulas asks.

"What's next then?"

Peter stares for a total of three seconds before coming to his senses. Nebula is awaiting instructions. Peter is the leader. This was his idea and he would make sure it happened.

"We need to know what happened, anything you can tell us on Thanos, we need to be prepared." Peter says.

Nebula moves to the front of the room.

"You want to know what happened the day they undid Thanos' snap? We went on a mission across space and time to retrieve the stones because the Thanos of our time destroyed them. Our Thanos is dead, but on the way a different Thanos caught on to us and returned with us. That's the Thanos we fought. Thanos attacked the Compound and the battle destroyed it. That’s the battlefield you got shoved into" Nebula makes a pause to stop talking to the room and turns to Peter. "Thanos loves a good battle but he's also a strategist. You want to defeat him? You already have the advantage. You plan ahead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the Young Avengers are a different team but I liked the little nod, because the MCU set this up so.


End file.
